Sounds in the Silence
by Heero de Fanel
Summary: Theirs is a quiet love. 50 looks at Machias, Emma, and what could be. Second set of themes up!
1. Sounds in the Silence

**Sounds in the Silence**

AN: 50 glances at the bookworms, from CSI going all the way into the future that Falcom probably hasn't thought about yet because they're too busy coming up with ways to break our hearts. Expect rampant abuse of dashes and semi-colons! Few notes before starting; #01 and #15 are Sen III references, though they don't spoil anything particularly massive. Also, y'all have no idea how hard it was not to take the low hanging fruit and center #19 around Gaius somehow.

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#01 – Comfort

"I'm impressed. You're just as warm and cushy as I heard," Celine commented from her position on the gunman's lap, and the familiar was rewarded by Machias going bright red and Alisa snickering when she heard her brunette passenger start to stutter and squeak.

#02 – Kiss

They've learned to be mindful of public displays of affection; it takes only moments for something soft and chaste to turn into a different animal altogether, reckless and fiery and utterly all-consuming.

#03 – Soft

" _You're not as hardened as you like to think, Machias,"_ Emma thought, unable to resist her quiet smile even as he ranted and raved – he had *not* been eavesdropping, not really, so could everyone just kindly drop the matter?!

#04 – Pain

"My head hurts from the wall I keep banging it into every time these two idiots go at it," Fie groused with no small amount of irritation as she watched the noble and the Reformist bicker yet again, and Emma couldn't help but sigh and nod in barely concealed exhaustion; this was hardly an auspicious start to their very first field study!

#05 – Potatoes

She hummed as she peeled, low and pleasant, because it was always the small things he noticed first.

#06 – Rain

"Should we risk it?" Machias asked, watching the torrents that didn't seem to be abating and a clock that inched ever closer to curfew, and when Emma grasped his wrist and whispered a playful 'try and keep up', he simply shook his head and chased after her, his quiet grin cloaked by the furious storm.

#07 – Chocolate

They would never be able to agree on a winner in the eternal war between tea and coffee, but on a cold winter's night hot cocoa was more than a fair compromise.

#08 – Happiness

"It looks good on you," Vita said, sounding as honest as Emma's ever heard her, and next to her husband the brunette smiled and nodded before turning her gaze back down at the sleeping newborn in her arms, wondering how it was at all possible for a heart to be so full.

#09 – Telephone

He was in the middle of reviewing for yet _another_ exam when his ARCUS went off; half-expecting it to be Elliot or Rean, Machias nearly dropped the device when he heard a painfully familiar voice apologize for interrupting his studies, but she had passed by a bookstore earlier and it made her wonder if he'd had time to read anything new…?

#10 – Ears

The sound of rapping on the door made Dorothee look up from her editing, and her eyebrows raised in surprise when Emma laughed and told Machias to come in; "I know his knock by now," the brunette informed the second year, as if that explained everything.

#11 – Name

"You two decide what to call the little munchkin yet?" Celine asked, curled up on her partner's still flat abdomen protectively, and the feline purred when delicate fingers ran their way through her fur, almost missing the happy "we're working on it".

#12 – Sensual

 _"This isn't fair. This isn't_ _ **fair**_ _. You don't even know what you're doing, do you?"_ Emma flailed as she watched Machias leisurely enjoying his ice cream cone, her book almost dropping from suddenly nerveless fingers when his tongue flicked out to catch a droplet that fell on his wrist.

#13 – Death

"T-They would have liked you. The both of them," Machias whispered, the pair standing in front of two graves, and Emma squeezed his hand before she bowed in greeting; "Hello. My name is Emma Millstein, and it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

#14 – Sex

"This is ridiculous!" Celine ranted to Mr. Tiddles, who for his part was content to relax and watch as his companion vented her frustration, "How often do I need to sleep out here? I get that they're both young and healthy and all that stuff, but shouldn't the 'can't keep their hands off each other' phase end at some point?!"

#15 – Touch

"Oh no," Emma intoned with no small amount of amusement, watching out of the corner of her eye as the inspector tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible and grabbing his hand before he slipped away, "you're not getting out of this that easily. Come on, there's room on the dance floor by Kurt and Juna."

#16 – Weakness

Emma with either her hair down or glasses off was something he could handle perfectly fine, thank you very much – when she did both, however…

#17 – Tears

"You know, you could have told him that soaking the onions in cold water before cutting them takes care of the eye irritation," an exasperated Emma informed Celine while Machias blinked his way through a painfully misty haze, and the familiar snickered before replying "Probably, but where's the fun in that?"

#18 – Speed

Class VII had hardly finished bowing before the VP had grabbed his books and left the classroom – he didn't have any time to spare, not if he was truly serious about seizing the top spot from his academic rival!

#19 – Wind

Machias raised his shotgun and fired, desperately buying time for Group A's arts specialist to do what she did best, and he was rewarded when not a second later she caught his eye, mouthed 'thank you', and unleashed an Aerial that sent the monsters flying in a burst of raging emerald.

#20 – Freedom

"What now?" the gunman asked, scarcely able to believe that everything was well and truly _over;_ "We live," Emma answered, slipping her hand into his and letting her weight settle against his side, her sapphire eyes sparkling with the unrestrained joy of impossibilities made possible again.

#21 – Life

"There's more to it than just books and exams," she admonished gently, and though Machias scoffed and muttered that as Thors' leading scorer she had the luxury of taking that stance, the gunman found himself setting his pen down and following the brunette to dinner without protest.

#22 – Jealousy

"Hmm. Interesting, Emma – I didn't think you'd go for the stoic type. He certainly is handsome, though! You have good taste," Vita 'praised' as she leaned in, her half-lidded eyes flicking speculatively at the confused gunman, and as irrational as it was the bespectacled woman felt her fingers curl into tight fists, her gaze cold enough to freeze magma.

#23 – Hands

There was something oddly relaxing about watching the brunette knit, creating something useful from nothing but lengths of yarn and two needles; Machias was a little less charitable when the finished product turned out to be a hat with two fuzzy cat ears on top that Emma happily pulled onto his head, but then he remembered the muffler that Celine wore on cold days and understood that he had been checkmated long before he had sat down to play.

#24 – Taste

"I thought you didn't like your drinks too sweet," Machias commented, staring at the whipped cream topped concoction in her right hand, and he simply gave a long suffering sigh when she giggled and teased "Well, that's for tea. I like the taste of tea. This is coffee, which is a different story entirely."

#25 – Devotion

He asked her one night if she was truly happy here with him instead of with the Hexen, and he would fully understand if she wasn't; she silenced his doubts with a kiss that seared him down to his bones, whispering against his lips that there was no other place she'd have rather been.

#26 – Forever

"They made it sound like such a bad thing," Machias grumbled, more than a little annoyed with the tired jokes that had been passed around the office whenever an engagement was announced, and Emma simply shrugged philosophically and smiled, saying that it was probably a good thing that _they_ weren't getting married then.

#27 – Blood

"She'll be fine. It's not going to be fun for her or anything, but women have been bearing children for Goddess knows how long, remember?" Celine told a tight-lipped, silent Machias, all the while trying to make her sharp ears ignore the pained gasps and her keen nose ignore the telltale scent of copper hanging in the air.

#28 – Sickness

The cool palm left Emma's cheek much too soon, and Machias chuckled a little at the unhappy noise she made in protest before he bent down to kiss her on the forehead, saying that she was still warm, he was going to make soup, and Celine was going to be _very_ unhappy if her partner didn't get enough rest.

#29 – Melody

"You see, sweetheart?" Emma called out mischievously when Machias had finished his soothing lullaby, making the now placated infant laugh and the man holding her groan, "Papa can sing just as well as Mama, and when you're older… well, there's a story about a festival that you'll probably want to hear."

#30 – Star

Emma seemed to think that never having been stargazing was a crime on par with high treason, which went a long way in explaining why they were now sitting out by the Old Schoolhouse on a blanket with Machias craning his head upwards and letting the witch's soothing voice guide his eyes into seeing what had once been unseen.

#31 – Home

"… Sorry. I suppose I'm still not used to having someone here when I open the door," he admitted, his cheeks pinking slightly; "Hehe. You'll adjust, I hope. Welcome back," Emma replied with an amused smile and a warm kiss.

#32 – Confusion

"Let me see if I have this right," a beyond aggrieved and perplexed Celine began, looking between a scowling Machias and a frowning Emma, "After everything that's happened up until now, you two are seriously telling me that your first actual fight is about how to **_organize your bookshelves?!"_**

#33 – Fear

"And what we were afraid of most has come to pass," Machias lamented upon seeing their daughter squinting at the book she was reading in a manner that was all too familiar to them both, and Emma simply sighed and shrugged in resignation – having them as parents was too big an obstacle for her eyes to overcome, it seemed.

#34 – Lightning/Thunder

"The storm must be nearby," she drowsily noted, having observed the flash and heard the crack, and Emma smiled against his bare shoulder when she felt his lips ghost over her crown, deciding that being indoors was far more preferable.

#35 – Bonds

Their party heard the encroaching steps of the approaching creatures, and what happened next was almost instinct; they glanced at each other, their ARCUS units flaring with light, and when the gunman and witch turned, they turned as one.

#36 – Market

All things considered, their new living arrangement was quite a good one, Celine thought – it made Emma happy, it made the grump happy, and they always remembered to buy lots of fresh milk during their weekly shopping trips; everyone came out a winner, really.

#37 – Technology

" _These new orbments are quite something,"_ the bespectacled girl marveled, turning the device over in her hands, and nearby she saw the green haired boy – Machias? – doing the same thing, and she had to stifle a giggle; he looked like an entirely different person when he wasn't relentlessly picking fights with their blonde classmate.

#38 – Gift

"You told him, didn't you?" Emma accused, looking at the neatly wrapped parcel while trying not to blush, and Celine had simply given her an imperious sniff and strolled away, telling the brunette that if she had time to ask that, then she had time to poke around and figure out when _his_ birthday was.

#39 – Smile

She's learned to catalogue his expressions over the years; there's a polite greeting (a quick upturn of the lips), a confident smirk (usually seen when he was winning a debate or a game of chess), a thin, tight-lipped sneer (the harbinger of sound and fury for their enemies) and finally, the warm, genuine grin that made her heart skip a beat and belonged only to her.

#40 – Innocence

"I think Papa looks best like this," the little girl murmured, looking down at her father in relaxed slumber with his silver glasses off to the side; Emma hummed in agreement, reaching down to run her fingers through his hair before telling her that yes, Mama thought so too.

#41 – Completion

"Stay with me," she felt him whisper into her hair, and Emma knew with every fiber of her being that she was well and truly home.

#42 – Clouds

Neither knew what lay past the mists that obscured the halls of the Reverie Corridor, but the pulse of certainty through their combat link made it equally clear that neither wanted to find out anytime soon.

#43 – Sky

Like everyone else, Machias had taken his turn standing on the deck of the Courageous and watching as the world blew by below them; he didn't even notice Emma next to him until he turned and saw her smiling apologetically, saying that he had looked so peaceful that she hadn't wanted to interrupt.

#44 – Heaven

"Mama! Papa! Tell me a story?" their daughter asked, eagerly clambering onto both their laps with Celine following close behind.

#45 – Hell

Emma watched as Valimar flew off in the distance, praying that Celine and Rean stayed safe, and she turned to face her link partner, nodding when she felt his grim determination to see this through to the inevitable end.

#46 – Sun

He would never forget waking up with her for the first time and seeing perfection nestled atop of him, wrapped in satin and bathed in gold.

#47 – Moon

Some of Emma's most treasured moments were when she caught him reading at dusk, his lean frame looking almost ethereal in the moonlit darkness, and the sight was beautiful enough to steal her breath away.

#48 – Waves

The irritation and frustration were steadily building with each pass his gaze made over the entrance exam scores, but the boy understood that blaming this person – Emma Millstein, he'd remember that if it killed him – was meaningless in the grand scheme of things; he had simply been outworked, and all he had to do was study hard enough to ensure that it didn't happen again.

#49 – Hair

"Mmm, thank you. It gets tangled so easily otherwise," Emma purred into his neck as he gingerly swept her brush through silken chestnut, and he couldn't help but wonder what would come first; the brunette's fall into slumber or his death by cardiac arrest.

#50 – Supernova

There's no doubt she would laugh at him if he ever told her – she, who had channeled and commanded celestial wrath to rain down on their foes – and yet he would absolutely swear this to be true; the light he saw and loved in her eyes shone brighter than anything else under Aidios' heaven, brighter than even the sun, the moon, and all the stars in Her sky.


	2. Second Movement

AN: Felt inspired. 50 more themes (Beta, this time), some SPOILERS for CS3 and CS4, plus a few references to past (and future?) fics.

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#01 – Walking

They were trudging away from the station when Emma sidled up to her vice president and quietly asked if he and Jusis were really going to engage in their cold war for the _entire_ field study; the sharp glare she received in return was answer enough.

#02 – Waltz

"I think he's settled down," Alisa pointed out as Rean gingerly spun her, smiling at the besotted expressions that adorned the faces of Machias and Emma as they danced, blissfully unaware of everything and everyone else.

#03 – Wishes

"Look, a shooting star! You know what we do on those, don't you?" Emma whispered to the wide-eyed little girl curled in her lap, giving a fond glance to Machias as his arm slid around her shoulder to pull them both close.

#04 – Wonder

"Good morning," came the fuzzy whisper against his chest, her sapphire eyes half-lidded as they regarded him with sleepy affection, taking his breath away with a single glance.

#05 – Worry

The sharp gasp he heard made Machias look up, alarmed, before he saw Emma's hand settle onto her rounded abdomen with an awestruck look; seconds later, he felt his fear vanish into nothing when he did the same and was greeted with a forceful kick to his palm.

#06 – Whimsy

"You're actually - Goddess, you've got it bad," Celine observed drolly, her eyes locked firmly on the two fuzzy ears that proudly stuck up from the knitted hat that was being worn by a resigned Machias, and she could only wonder if the smiling witch behind him was envisioning plans for a matching tail – her projects could be a little peculiar, at times.

#07 – Waste/Wasteland

"Feel free to keep playing to the end. It would be a disappointing conclusion otherwise," Machias told her, not quite smirking, and across from him Emma narrowed her eyes and glared at her decimated forces on the wooden board; while she kept faith she'd beat him **someday** , today wasn't going to be it.

#08 – Whiskey and rum

"Hmm. So that's what you were doing with Rean and Crow," Emma murmured against his mouth teasingly, the faint taste of the spirits still lingering, and she kissed him again when he tried to answer, her hands taking hold of his as she pulled him down with her onto the bed.

#09 – War

Sometimes when they were studying, one would catch the other with a shadowed gaze and a furrowed brow, their eyes darkened and staring at ghosts; all it took was a warm brush of their fingers, skin on skin, to remind them that they were here, that they had _survived._

#10 – Weddings

Truth be told, Machias wasn't overly fond of these affairs per se (they were noisy, crowded, and in general the antithesis of what he found enjoyable) but any internal protests he had were silenced when he caught sight of a beaming Emma in a lavender dress, raising a hand in greeting and looking resplendent all the while.

#11 – Birthday

"Yeah, it's in a week and a half. Not surprised she never mentioned it to you or the others, but now that you know… well, I'm sure you'll be able to figure out something. You're a smart guy," Celine tossed out, trying not to enjoy the obvious panic on his face too much.

#12 – Blessing

"T-They like you! They like you, they approve of you, and I'm so, **so** sorry about all this," Emma stammered, fighting every urge to bury her face in her hands, and if there was one thing that the exhausted - and maybe a little traumatized - Machias would take from the whole mess it was that the Hexen delighted in vetting prospective suitors to a degree that bordered on disturbing.

#13 – Bias

"Papa! Auntie Celine taught me checkers! Will you play with me?" the little girl asked excitedly, and it was a testament to how much Machias loved his daughter that he simply smiled, nodded, and stowed his well-rehearsed speech about how inferior checkers was to a _real_ strategy game.

#14 – Burning

"Y-You'll get it eventually," Machias coughed, opening the window in the kitchen to let the smoke out as a sullen Emma stared at her latest attempt at making Crunchy Rice Crackers with sad, mournful eyes.

#15 – Breathing

It was him that usually fell asleep first, and the steady rise and fall of his chest never failed to lull her into slumber soon after.

#16 – Breaking

"No buts, Machias! You need a rest," Emma exclaimed, grabbing the startled boy by his hands and pulling him to his feet.

#17 – Belief

 _"Of course they're all right,"_ Machias thought as he dashed in with Rean and the others, stopping beside his surprised link partner and Laura as he glared at the dragon that stood before Class VII. _"No phantasmal beast would have been enough to stop **them**."_

#18 – Balloon

"She's gonna be beach ball sized soon," Celine commented lazily from her position on the slumbering Emma's stomach, and she purred when the gunner gazed at his wife and reached down to give the feline a good scratch, his fingers running their way through her fine dark fur.

#19 – Balcony

"You can see the stars from here if you really look," Emma told him, gazing upward with reverence and awe, his arm curled around her waist, and Machias could only wonder why he had never taken the time before.

#20 – Bane

"… Must I? I'm sure you've done a fine job of editing already," he said, staring at Dorothee's manuscript with more than a little apprehension, but he finally sighed and opened it as Emma offered him a warm smile in thanks.

#21 – Quiet

The apology came on the train back to Thors, barely audible and genuinely regretful, and after a moment Emma accepted it with a small smile and a look of understanding; though she never wanted to go through a field study like their first again, he (and Jusis) had more than made up for it this time around.

#22 – Quirks

"I'm not fond of the crust," he told Emma upon seeing her look curiously at his handiwork, adroitly reaching out to sneak one of the blueberries that she had surgically removed from her muffin not seconds before.

#23 – Question

"May I ask you something?" and he rolled his eyes when she giggled and pointed out that technically, he already had.

#24 – Quarrel

They counted themselves fortunate only to have had one serious fight; the rest of the time, what passed for relationship strife usually involved snippy asides after a particularly rough day, asides that would inevitably be forgiven and forgotten long before the sun set.

#25 – Quitting

 **"You?!"** Emma yelped in what could only be described as poleaxed indignance, and Machias groaned and ran his fingers through his hair, pointing out that it had only been once on a dare from Patiry, he had nearly coughed up a lung because the smoke had tasted disgusting, and he hadn't touched them again since so could she please drop the subject, already?

#26 – Jump

"D-Don't do that!" Machias exclaimed, his heart pounding as Emma tried and failed to keep herself from dissolving into a fit of laughter at seeing him virtually leap off the couch at her touch; the gunner was more than a little ticklish, it seemed.

#27 – Jester

There were two things that were guaranteed to eke a laugh out of their little girl; Emma making funny faces and Machias trying to make funny faces and failing miserably at it.

#28 – Jousting

"A lifetime of this. I'm in for a lifetime of this," Celine lamented, listening as the pair launched into yet another debate about the superiority of tea or coffee and was there an echo in the building or had she heard this crap before?!

#29 – Jewel

She loved his eyes the most; dark, infinitely serious, gleaming like jade under the last vestiges of twilight.

#30 – Just

 _"This isn't right,"_ Emma thought, her heart in her throat as she helplessly watched a resigned Machias be marched away by the guards. _"This isn't right."_

#31 – Smirk

"Someone needs to explain to you the concept of being a gracious winner one of these days," Emma grumbled, setting down her losing hand and pointedly trying to look anywhere but the final card that had sealed her fate or the expression on his face.

#32 – Sorrow

She hid behind the tree and listened to Machias baring his soul to the twin gravestones, her heart breaking a little more with every word.

#33 – Stupidity

"S'the last night before everything goes sideways and you're gonna babysit a drunk guy. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Crow told him, sounding remarkably lucid for someone that had indulged as much as he had. "C'mon, man. Don't you have someone else you'd rather be seeing now?"

#34 – Serenade

In all honestly, no one really knew what to expect – while Jusis might have had some musical training given his upbringing, the other half of the duet was a question mark at best – but when Machias took a deep breath and let his first bars fly, Emma found herself unable to look away; he could really sing!

#35 – Sarcasm

There were times when it seemed like Celine and Machias were in a silent competition to see who could outdo each other when it came to snark, much to Emma's everlasting chagrin.

#36 – Sordid

While Machias had ended up experiencing a decent chunk of Dorothee's work (whether he wanted to or not) by the time they left Thors, there were certain volumes that Emma knew could never _ever_ see the light of day in his presence – proofreading them was one thing, but seeing himself in a starring role with a token name change would probably be a bridge too far.

#37 – Soliloquy

He learned that she would occasionally talk when she slept, and more than once Machias had to refrain from answering back.

#38 – Sojourn

"I-I mean, it's quite a distance to travel back," he pointed out, marshaling his courage even as her eyes widened, "and furthermore, Heimdallr's far more central to the Empire than your village is. If you're so inclined… you could always stay here for a little while."

#39 – Share

"I could just make you a cup, you know," Machias told Emma with a long suffering sigh, a small grin on her face as she returned the purloined mug of hot chocolate as quickly as she had snuck it away from him for a quick sip.

#40 – Solitary

Emma had considering asking the gunner if he would be interested in joint study sessions, but she'd dismissed it out of hand each time; after all, he appeared perfectly content sitting at his table in the library, the serious expression never leaving his face as he pored through their textbooks, and the last thing she wanted to do was intrude on her new classmate's routine.

#41 – Nowhere

"Oh no. Nice try, but you're not going anywhere," Emma cooed at the giggling infant as she happily cuddled her, and Machias was starting to get unnerved at how their newly crawling daughter seemed to get closer and closer to the stairs every time she made a break for it.

#42 – Neutral

"They're both idiots. No one's right and no one's wrong here, they're just both idiots. We can agree on that, right?" Fie grumbled as Jusis and Machias started bickering _again_ , and beside her a weary Emma and resigned Gaius simply nodded in agreement.

#43 – Nuance

Emma had many smiles, and somewhere along the way Machias had learned the meaning behind every single one of them.

#44 – Near

"Stay close!" Rean cautioned from the front of the air vent, and the gunner studiously focused on the alloy beneath him because if he was being perfectly honest staying close presented its own set of problems, especially considering who was in front of him – he hadn't meant for things to be arranged like this, really!

#45 – Natural

It never ceased to amaze her how perfectly their fingers fit together, even years later.

#46 – Horizon

There was still a lot to do, there was no doubting that, but for Machias and Emma it was enough that they had survived to see another sunrise.

#47 – Valiant

Being brave against creatures out of a nightmare was one thing; trying to muster that same courage to ask a simple question with ring in hand was something else entirely.

#48 – Virtuous

"Sorry, kid. I don't think your Mama and Papa have a lot of funny stories to tell – but then again, straight arrows usually don't," Celine told the girl, chuckling a little at her disappointed pout while ignoring the indignant expressions on the faces of her parents.

#49 – Victory

"Hehe. I told you 'she', didn't I?" an utterly drained Emma whispered, tenderly cradling the newborn as her relieved husband sat beside her, all the tension draining from his shoulders in an instant.

#50 – Defeat

"Hmph. This may as well be a loss for me and we both know it," Machias muttered, glaring at their tied scores for the last set of exams they would ever take at Thors, and Emma could only sigh and shake her head fondly; for all his growth and maturation, he was still the same Machias at heart (and she wouldn't have him any other way).


End file.
